Cleveland, OH -- The new-look Cavs opened their season against the new-look Raps in T-Dot; a couple of former Conference rivals did battle, as Kawhi Leonard made his Raptors debut, scoring a game-high 37 points, but the Cavs made an unlikely second-half comeback and won the game by 5.

The Raptors won the first-half 64-40, but a balanced attack by the Cavs (led by Kevin Love's efficient 33 points, 8 rebounds and 3 blocks) outscored the Raptors by 29 in the second half. Larry Nance Jr. poured in 19 off the bench (including 2 triples), while Collin Sexton had 13 points and 14 dimes off the bench in his Cavs debut.

Cleveland, OH (AP) -- IT led all scorers with 26 points and 5 dimes in his return to the Q in Cleveland. Rookie Michael Porter Jr. contributed 20 points, while Nikola Jokic snared a 10 & 14 double-double.

For the Cavaliers, Channing Frye had a huge bench performance, scoring 22 points (including 5 triples), but it wasn't enough for the Cavaliers, who drop to 3-5 on the season; one thing the Cavs can hang their head on is this roster is at least 12-men deep, as 10 players got significant minutes tonight.

Cleveland, OH (AP) -- The Thunder dominated the majority of the game, save the Cavs making it a 5-point game in the fourth; OKC scored 40 in the first quarter alone for a 17-point victory over the Cavs. Paul George paved the way with 42 points to his name, and Steven Adams had a monster 18 & 15 double-double. Even Dennis Schroder came in and scored 16 points and dropped 6 dimes off the bench... oh yeah: Russell Westbrook had a near triple-double consisting of 23 points, 8 rebounds and 14 assists; I'm surprised he didn't fight Adams for some of those rebounds.

For the Cavs, Kevin Love scored a team-high 34, but continues to disappoint in the rebound department: he only snagged 3 on the contest. Rodney Hood backed him up as a solid second option, with 24 points to his name. Larry Nance was a nice 14 & 8 spark plug off the bench (including his usual highlight plays [captured below]).

Collin Sexton's first start of the season was pretty solid: he had 9 points and 7 assists, however his mentor George Hill was able to drop 10 dimes in just 18 minutes off the bench.

So the Cavs drop below .500 again; they've got the overachieving 7-4 Bulls at the United Center Saturday night. Zach LaVine and Jabari Parker are living up to their offseason contracts, leading the team at 21 and 16 PPG respectively.

Lamrock wrote:Good luck with this. What's your strategy for improving the team? Cavs are in a tough spot with all those veterans on long contracts and Sexton the only really notable prospect. Should be interesting

I was mulling this today, and I have two options: blow it up or somehow try to make this team a contender; we're kind of like the Hawks when they had Bibby, Johnson, Williams, Smith and Horford... stuck in no man's land. I'm at least going to ride it out for a little while with this current team and see how we do until at least the deadline, but as I wrote in the beat report, JR is the most expendable to me: having both he and Korver is redundant, and his streakiness doesn't fit with what I'm trying to do. He was good playing alongside a guy like LeBron, but he's kinda like a leftover at this point.

I was utterly shocked at how much money someone like George Hill is commanding; this kinda ended up being perfect: I get to play as "my team", and they're an ideal story team this year, with an embarrassment of options.

Also, Nance just extended for a fair price at 4 years irl, so that may be something to consider as he's one of my favorites.

The Cavaliers mounted a huge 47-point fourth quarter after trailing by as many as 16, thanks to a balanced scoring attack: Kevin Love led the way with 29 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks, while Jordan Clarkson was absolutely lethal coming off the bench, dropping 19 points in 16 minutes on hot shooting.

Larry Nance continues to be a steady bench force with 16 points, 7 boards, 4 steals and 2 blocks; he and the Cavs have shown mutual interest in a contract extension, though he is frickin' ineligible in the game, even though he shouldn't be - oh well; he'll be an offseason target. I will fix this if someone knows how, because as of now, it's a glitch.

Collin Sexton was incredibly steady in his second start of the season, with a 14 & 12 (assists) double-double.

For the Bulls (who drop to 7-6), contract-buffs Zach LaVine and Jabari Parker led the way, while Lauri Markkanen came off the bench and played only 16 minutes for unknown reasons; that may have been the difference in the game.

Up Next: Gonna sim the next three to get to LeBron's return to the Q! Lakers are just 4-7 rn, with the King averaging 22-7-7; the Cavs may actually be favorites. Almost all their players are underachieving and Ingram isn't starting.

Cleveland, OH (AP) -- The lights were set and the ESPN crew was geared up for LeBron's only return to Quicken Loans Arena this season, though alas, he sat the game out with a thigh bruise; that wasn't the only injury issue for the Lakers, as Kyle Kuzma had to sit out with a bruised hip, and Rajon Rondo played through a pinched elbow nerve.

The Lakers were an even .500 entering the matchup, and they were led by a scorching Brandon Ingram, who had a game-high 33 points in just his second start of the season (due to James' injury). Across the board was a balanced scoring attack otherwise (and I mean balanced) for Los Angeles: they had 11 scorers on the night, with nine of them at least scoring three buckets.

The real story of the night was the Cavs, who were powered to a 3-point victory by K. Love's monster 31 & 10 double-double. They started out slow, but a huge 3rd quarter allotted them this victory. Larry Nance again showed his stellar bench play with 18 points in 19 minutes (including many alley-oops and poster dunks), while Collin Sexton yet again proved his stellar playmaking, dishing 11 dimes.

The Cavs rise to 9-7 and have a tough matchup in Philly Friday night against the 6ers, who are perhaps underachieving at 12-8. Their backup PG T.J. McConnell continues to be out with a broken vertebrae.

Meanwhile, the Cavs don't have to wait too long for another chance to play the King, as they will visit the Lakers in mid-January.

Media

The lanky Ingram gave the Cavs trouble all night, and certainly took advantage of his start in LeBron's absence.

Yes, this and 1 went in, and there was also another defender (Love) obscured by Ingram.

No love for Cavs in city of brotherly loveCavs 91 @ 6ers 97November 23, 2018

But there was Love in the form of Kevin, who was the performer of the game, with another monster 36 and 10 double-double, on over 50% shooting from the field; he did take 30 shots as it was, so perhaps the Cavs are expecting a bit much out of the 11-year veteran from UCLA, fresh off a 4-year contract extension at about $30M per.

Tristan Thompson was also solid for the Cavs, as he yanked down a 13 & 14 double-double himself, but it was not enough as they lost the contest by only 6 after trailing by as many as 34; that's right: they were outscored by 24 in the first quarter, but won the fourth by 23. The middle of the game was a bit of a stalemate.

Point forward Ben Simmons led the way for the 6ers, and seemingly played every position tonight, starting at PF at moving up to PG as the game progressed; he had 24 points, 6 rebounds, 6 assists, 3 steals and 2 blocks on an efficient 11-19 shooting. Wilson Chandler, Robert Covington, JJ Redick and Aamir Johnson also reached double-figures in the scoring column; Joel Embiid did snatch 10 boards, but scored just 7 points on 3-4 shooting.

The 6ers needed this win badly, as they were teetering too close to .500, while the Cavs themselves get one loss closer to falling to .500 again. Cleveland has a brutal upcoming schedule, facing the Rockets, Wolves, Thunder, Celtics, Nets and Warriors... why the Nets? They are one of the league's surprise teams, sitting at fourth in the East. The Cavs have their work cut out for them at least against the Rockets tomorrow night, as they not only hold home-court advantage, but Houston is also struggling at 8-9 and will be without Clint Capela who's nursing a strained Achilles; maybe Love will erupt for 40 or something.

Meanwhile, the Wolves are also one game below .500 at 9-10; KAT will definitely not play in that contest, though Jimmy Butler may return from a collapsed lung (that shit sounds brutal).